Women Speak Out

Women Speak OutWomen Speak Out

Women Speak Out

Women Speak Out is our space for NWFFest filmmakers and supporters to voice opinions and ideas about a variety of topics. Check back weekly as our brilliant women speak out.

Images by Cerebral Itch

Are We Censoring Our Humanity?

Destiny Faith Nelson is the NWFFest 2018 Local Filmmaker of the Year for her film, The Trap

I think we’re all guilty of it, myself included. We see someone’s thoughts expressed on a particular subject, usually one opposing our own perspective, and “judgment mode” immediately turns on, it lashes out and harsh negative words are spouted at people we actually care about and/or even other human beings we’ve actually never even met. We assume that this one perspective is the absolute representation of all that is this other human being.

So how would these conversations play out, face-to-face, looking another human being in the eye? Have our eyes been so glossed by the layer of gorilla glass that we’ve forgotten that we are human beings? I often private message those who I’ve opposed on Social Media, to sit down for coffee and talk about it. Some people like the idea, while with others, I hear crickets.

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Kourtenaye Monroe Musings on the Making of a Holiday

The multi-talented Kourtenaye Monroe is one of our beloved volunteers at NWFFest.

It hit me like a punch in the gut or a slap in the face. 

Most of us have done it -- sent that mass text or email to all those people we may have wanted to keep in touch with throughout the year, but just didn't get around to it.

OH wow, is it that time again already!? Happy Thanksgiving! Happy Chanukah! Have a great time celebrating Kwanzaa! Merry Christmas! Happy New Year!

It’s a simple way to let those we care for know they are not forgotten, though we may not be in each other's lives the way we once were. But when the text response from my high school friend came back with a terse: We don't celebrate holidays, it shook me.

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My love letter to Thousand Oaks

Suzanne Roberts is a poet, travel writer, memoirist, and NWFFest supporter.

The following piece was published by CNN on November 10, 2018:

One of the reasons my parents moved us to Thousand Oaks when I was in the fourth grade was because it was such a safe place to live, and that has continued to be true. Mayor Andy Fox has called Thousand Oaks the safest city in America in interviews since the shooting.

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Esther Gabriel with May May Luong

It's Voting Time!

by Esther Gabriel, NWFFest Director of Operations & Owner of Mission Control Studios in Las Vegas

I voted, yes I did. I’m loud and proud of it.  In Nevada, we have two weeks of early voting before the official election day on 11/6.  I have been dying to cast my ballot since November 2016.

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